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John Dishwasher John Dishwasher's Reviews > Nathan the Wise
Nathan the Wise
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John Dishwasher John Dishwasher's review
bookshelves: theme-reality-and-illusions, theme-authenticity-selftruth, theme-hidden-truths, theme-source-of-modern-ills
Jul 19, 2020
bookshelves: theme-reality-and-illusions, theme-authenticity-selftruth, theme-hidden-truths, theme-source-of-modern-ills
Words are ‘lifeless signs’ we attach to meanings and concepts. But words are such delicious little playthings to bat around in our minds that they can delude us. Often we end up adhering to the words more than the concepts they represent. Lessing seems to think this pitfall of human intelligence is at the root of much self-inflicted misfortune and suffering. In fact, here he attributes to this penchant of ours, among other things, religious conflict.
The point is summed up in this exchange: A Christian ‘lay-brother’ says to Nathan, a Jew. “You are a Christian, Nathan! Yes, by heaven / You are a Christian! Never was a better!” And Nathan replies to the Christian lay-brother: “What makes of me a Christian in your eyes / Makes you in mine a Jew.”
Here the two characters speak to the essence of their religions over the names of their religions: Their meanings over their words. For Lessing religion is an illustrative way to portray this problem since in his view there is a mystical level where all faiths are the same. This makes it easier for him to show that distorting the truth of things with language -- artificially and arbitrarily -- is a big-ass problem we have. There are more mundane examples of this throughout the play. Constantly how things are labelled differs from their truth. Is your father the one who gave you your genes, or the man who raised you? Are you really the winner of a chess game if someone helped you win? If you were born a Christian but everyone calls you a Jew, which are you?
I would love to see this on stage just for the costumes. Watching a sultan, a knight, a monk, a patriarch, a princess, a dervish and a wiseman bouncing into each other from scene to scene would be like watching a masquerade on ice skates.
The point is summed up in this exchange: A Christian ‘lay-brother’ says to Nathan, a Jew. “You are a Christian, Nathan! Yes, by heaven / You are a Christian! Never was a better!” And Nathan replies to the Christian lay-brother: “What makes of me a Christian in your eyes / Makes you in mine a Jew.”
Here the two characters speak to the essence of their religions over the names of their religions: Their meanings over their words. For Lessing religion is an illustrative way to portray this problem since in his view there is a mystical level where all faiths are the same. This makes it easier for him to show that distorting the truth of things with language -- artificially and arbitrarily -- is a big-ass problem we have. There are more mundane examples of this throughout the play. Constantly how things are labelled differs from their truth. Is your father the one who gave you your genes, or the man who raised you? Are you really the winner of a chess game if someone helped you win? If you were born a Christian but everyone calls you a Jew, which are you?
I would love to see this on stage just for the costumes. Watching a sultan, a knight, a monk, a patriarch, a princess, a dervish and a wiseman bouncing into each other from scene to scene would be like watching a masquerade on ice skates.
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Reading Progress
June 6, 2020
– Shelved
(Kindle Edition)
July 17, 2020
–
Started Reading
July 17, 2020
– Shelved
July 18, 2020
–
53.22%
"Who cannot resolve
Upon the instant for himself to live,
Remains forevermore the slave of others. "
page
91
Upon the instant for himself to live,
Remains forevermore the slave of others. "
July 19, 2020
–
Finished Reading
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Jul 19, 2020 07:47PM
“My father (Nathan the Wise) cares not for that cold book-learning that’s printed on the mind by lifeless signs.”
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The GR blurb calls this a comedy. I did not get that unless it is meant in the antique sense of 'not a tragedy.'
Great review, John. I hope to get to it this month as well. My sister read it in school, but I think, I've never read it.
Gabi wrote: "Great review, John. I hope to get to it this month as well. My sister read it in school, but I think, I've never read it."Thank you. The pages go by quickly because it's in verse. I wish I could read it in German. I just watched parts of a German film from 1967 to see those costumes I mentioned. The style of the film is wonderful, very theatrical. But I could only understand the actors when they said each other's names. If you get to it this month, I'll be curious to read your comments on the play
Is Jesus nature of God? Is Jesus word of God? or is Jesus revelation of God, dear John? As you perfectly have said in your review, the differences in the Abrahamic religions are purely and simply on the surface. I d like to read this book as soon as possible.
Nazmiye Gül wrote: "Is Jesus nature of God? Is Jesus word of God? or is Jesus revelation of God, dear John? As you perfectly have said in your review, the differences in the Abrahamic religions are purely and simply o..."Hi, Nazmiye. This is the copy I read:
https://archive.org/details/nathanwis...
This English translation from the German is somewhat awkward and in an antiquated style. :)
Aww, thank you very much John, God be with you! ^_^
